Cyclops In The Odyssey

Odysseus and his crew hike up to the Cyclops’s cave and help themselves to the cave full of sheep and crates of milk and cheese. Assuming that the cyclops would follow the greeks Xenia, Odysseus decides to wait for him to return and see what the cyclops would offer to his visitors. After the cyclops ordeal, as Odysseus and what remains of the crew he lead in these are sailing away, Odysseus shouts out to the blinded Cyclops his name, so he could be the one credited with blinding the cyclops. Instead of leaving while they had a chance, once they were full, Odysseus selfishly decides to stay. The result of his decision to stay, he loses four men. By shouting out his name to the cyclops enables the cyclops to curse him. This endangers the crew …show more content…
Later in the Epic, Odysseus spends seven years on Calypso’s breath-taking cave-home island, but nowhere in the epic is it mentioned that Odysseus tries to escape Calypso’s island. By day, Odysseus is found by the beaches surrounding the island and enjoys the company of Calypso at night. According to Hesiod, one of the earliest Greek poets, and often called the “father of Greek didactic poetry”, Calypso even gave birth to two kids: Nausithous and Nausinous. Here Odysseus represents man as being selfish because he pushes aside the idea of returning home to Penelope, who has been awaiting his return since he left for Troy twenty years before. Instead, he beds down with the beautiful island princess and even produces offspring. His actions are not to leave the island, but of enjoyment and satisfaction. With the Cyclops, Odysseus wanted food and kleos. With Calypso, he wanted …show more content…
Once they have passed the Sirens’ island, Odysseus and his men must navigate the straits between Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla is a six-headed monster who, when ships pass, swallows one sailor for each head. Charybdis is an enormous whirlpool that threatens to swallow the entire ship. Odysseus fails to tell the crew about Scylla and Charybdis in an attempt to ease the fear presented to them. As they approach the pass between the two mountainous rocks, he stays silent. This act of keeping the crucial information from the crew is Homer proving man’s disloyalty. Instead of telling them the truth, Odysseus lets them watch in horror and surprise as their crewmates suddenly are whisked upwards forever. Him keeping this information shows that he is not a trustworthy